Foodhall With a Difference

A homemaker, Sangita Kishore Biyani essays the roles of super hostess, cookbook author and 'most lovable chachi' with ease and a spiritual touch to it all

Text and Photographs: Farzana Contractor

She is easily the favourite chachi. All the youngsters in the extended Biyani parivaar simply adore her. And why would they not? Given her genuine love not just for cooking, but feeding the ever willing brood. And lovingly at that. Meet Sangita Biyani, passionate cook, super hostess, and a cookbook author. Also, the low-profile half of the even more low- profile Kishore Biyani, retail czar, astute businessman, tireless worker. Who loves food, especially his wife’s cooking.

Sangita smiles when she talks about all things food. And so enthusiastic is she about the subject, she speaks in long, excited sentences. Food, cuisines, ingredients, recipes, cooking methods and yes, travel and family, all this motivates her. Since this was all we spoke, as we sat in her sea-facing, well-appointed apartment in South Bombay, she spoke pretty animatedly, interrupting herself only to dart into the kitchen where three of her kitchen staff were giving the finishing touches to the early dinner I was going to share with her and her family. She had planned the meal meticulously. She had set the table very well, too. She likes doing that. Sangita’s kitchen is an organised place.

“Tell me, when did you actually begin to cook?”, I began. “Way before I got married!”, came the quick reply. “My mother was very clear, cooking, which was her forte is something her three daughters had to become adept at. So as soon as each of us would clear our 10th standard examinations, my mother would get us into the kitchen and acquaint us with the process of cooking. One full month, each of us would slog. Learn how to make chapatis, get to know about masalas, study different grains and lentils, learn to make rice dishes. All nuances would be explained. As a child I never ate ice-creams, yet my mom sent me to an ice-cream making class. As well as another, where I learnt to make Punjabi chole. And it was a Muslim woman who taught me how to make great pizzas!”

What a sensible woman Sangita’s mom is. To inculcate the love for cooking at an early age in a woman is to empower her for life. That’s how I think. Knowing how to cook is all-empowering. You will never starve, your family will always be bound together, you will never feel bored or depressed (cooking is so therapeutic) and no servant or cook will ever take you for granted, or worse, for a ride! You remain the boss of the household forever, even when you actively stop cooking.

Like Sangita. She does not indulge anymore, in the nitty gritty, rigmarole of the basics, not on a daily basis. She opened her huge fridge and showed me her stock. Dozens of different masalas and chutneys, sauces and mixes were all prepared and kept in different-sized jars in the freezer. Packed in varying quantities so that all you have to do is take out the exact amount you may need for each cooking session. “That way, you don’t thaw and refreeze unnecessarily. Which is not good to do, anyway,” she explains. So there was red chilli masala and green, date and tamarind chutney, garlic and ginger paste and much more. But this was the ‘wet’ fridge. She has another, smaller one, where she stocks all her dry masalas. Not like other housewives who just store it all in bottles on open shelves, where it sits for weeks and months, getting stale. “Look, the most important things, especially in Indian cooking are the spices and masalas. If the aroma is lost even before you use it, what is the point,” she reasons. And so all such ingredients like, cumin, coriander, red chilli powder, mace, aniseed, and assorted concoctions are roasted, ground and kept away in this mini refrigerator. One lives and learns. Not only does this system keep stuff fresh and handy, you also save so much time.

So not only does Sangita get her monthly quota of ‘masala needs’ out of the way, she also knows exactly, the yearly quantity she requires. She smilingly tells me. “We consume 20 kgs of jeera, 20 kgs of red chilli powder, 15 kgs of dhania, 6 kgs haldi and about 5 or 6 kgs of garam masala.”

But it’s not just Indian food that is cooked in this household. Sangita was just 20 years old when she married Kishore. Soon after her first daughter Ashni was born (and five years later, Avni). Kishore was not even on the fringes of where life would take him, but Sangita was right where she is, even today. And happy about it. “You know, even as I returned from my honeymoon (Darjeeling and Kathmandu), I went straight into the kitchen and I still remember, I made Nargisi Kofta and Palak Paneer. From that age itself I could handle the entire kitchen. But as the years passed and life changed, we travelled much more and the girls grew up and added their own likes and dislikes to the general culinary kitty, our kitchen also changed. Now we eat a lot out of international cuisines, too. Like Avni – who was away at a food symposium – likes to experiment in the kitchen with foreign ingredients. And she is very good at it. Kishore loves snacks and starters much more than main courses. So everyday at least six snacks are made. Two for lunch, two for a late high tea, when he comes home, and two for dinner. And yes, now-a-days I like to tweak and twist. Like I have made Thai Pav Bhaji today. Where, while I do add a bit of the pav bhaji masala, to retain the core essence, I have used some Thai ingredients, too. Like kaffir lime, galangal and lemon grass."

By now, we were helping ourselves from the array laid out and Kishore who had returned from office, joined us at the table. “My wife, as you can see is a very good cook. But she also has the ability to pick up from taste. Like this Thai Pav Bhaji, she ate at Indian Accent in Delhi. She discussed it with Chef Manish Mehrotra and came home and just made it,” says Kishore Biyani, the man who remains what he was even 20 years ago, preferring the simple and the ordinary over snooty and pretentious. From all that is at his beckoning, he loves to drink kala khatta and eat pav bhaji. And his favourite readymade snack is Parle’s Sixer. Nice. Mine is Parle’s Monaco, salted.

“While we do love to go eating out, most of our entertainment, even business socialising happens at home. All meetings of Kishore after 6 pm are conducted at home. Our international associates love it when they get to eat good Indian, home-made food. The other day, the Walmart CEO was here and was so delighted with the food. Our foreign guests love our veg khana; baingan, aloo, bhindi, paneer,” says Sangita, dipping into Hindi, and continues, “So you see, we always have people over, the kitchen is always busy. In his office, 10 to 12 people sit for lunch with Kishore, so I send a tiffin for that many people everyday.” Well, who would not want to eat from a tiffin where everything is home-made, even the rose syrup in

the dessert.

What certainly helps her, says Sangita, is that each of her friends is completely into food and cooking. Her band of girlfriends, a group of 10, exchange recipes, send over cooked food to each other, are on phone for help if the need arises, when they are experimenting. When there are celebrations happening, like a birthday, or a son or daughter getting engaged, they never cater, even if there are 70 or 80 people, they all just land up, each bringing something to the table, like a pound party. Sounds like loads of fun. A variety of home-made food and zero stress for the hostess. Cheers, to that!

Sangita is intrinsically a happy person and there is an element of spirituality in her cooking. Every morning and evening a bhog is made for the presiding deity of the house and offered at the little mandir. Milk, dryfruits and cooked food with no garlic or onion as is the Marwari custom. “My husband laughs at me, but I say, ‘Mera man khush hota hai.’” Perhaps it's an extension of this attitude which makes Sangita very thoughtful towards her guests. “I keep in mind, the community, age as well, ask if the person has specific dietary requirement. I won’t prepare dosas, idlis, if I have a South Indian guest coming home. Doesn’t make sense. Yet, I will have one dish to their taste, just in case… like say, dahi bhat. Or I will make sure I avoid sugar and high carb foods if I know someone is diabetic.” A good, thoughtful hostess, that is Sangita Kishore Biyani.

Any tips for aspiring cooks? “Yes, apart from using fresh, good quality ingredients, never cook in large quantities where you have to freeze food. Repeated reheating not only destroys the nutritional values, it makes the food look pathetic. And when cooking veggies, add a pinch of sugar, for them to retain the green. And when you cover what’s being cooked, make sure you use a mesh lid, air must pass through for colour retention. Simple!"

Simple for you Sangita who learned young and have been at it for three decades. You must thank your stars and your mom, whose training has held you in good stead, but there are those simply yearning to learn, hopefully you will be an inspiration. In the meanwhile, bon appétit.